BANGOR, Maine - People were evacuated from a Bangor, Maine, motel after an odor was noticed and six people, including four firefighters, were sent to the hospital with respiratory problems.

Shortly after the 9 p.m. Thursday evacuation at the Howard Johnson Inn, several of the guests forced outside by the odor could be seen in a decontamination tent outside the motel's main entrance. Some were coughing and choking.

Assistant Fire Chief Darrell Cyr told the Bangor Daily News the fire department was called to the motel for reports of an acrid odor, which he described as "very pungent."

Despite searching both floors of the inn for nearly three hours, he said, firefighters were unable to determine the source of the odor.